The New York State Beaverkill Conservation Area and campground was the victim of severe flooding this spring. It was closed for the season. My family has been visiting this campground for more than 30 years, starting when some of us were just toddlers. Now many of us have children of our own.
The flooding also cost the life of a young girl in nearby Livingstone Manor.
Here are some shots of the damage at the end of July. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image. All of the images are Creative Commons copyrighted (see photo home page) and are available as 8-megapixel jpeg files. Send an e-mail with requests.
Fallen trees along the banks.
Carved out roadway.
More fallen trees.
Still more fallen trees
Buckled roadway.
Remains of a campsite. The bench is elsewhere.
Damage on both sides of the road.
Pump house.
Here are some of the benches. Note the debris on the
left sides.
Undermined fireplace.
Saved by the trees. Countless tables must have traveled
downstream. Note the debris on the upstream side.
A twisted mess.
Eroded roadway.
This pipe came from a culvert somewhere.
One of the bathrooms. The edge of the roadway in the
foreground has a deep gulley.
A water spigot and fountain withstood the onslaught.
Anyone familiar with Beaverkill knows of the lush vegetation
that grows there. In the previous pictures, much of that has been stripped
to bare rock. But there is some hope. These were growing on the side of
the road.
And the river is still there, flowing as amiably as
it does in the summer time.
And so is the bridge. Rumor had it that at the height
of the flooding, the water licked at the bottom of the covered bridge.
Yet from this angle, nothing seems much changed.
The sign at the entry to the day use area. The rangers
erased the sign each morning, only to have well-wishers leave their mark
by the end of the day.